Exploring Sci-Fi’s impact on design

Susanne Graner: Andrés, we first made contact in February 2023 to discuss your Hortensia Chair, a piece that had already made waves in the realm of digital design. As someone who identifies as a digital artist, could you share how you came to navigate the digital world with such ease?

Andrés Reisinger: Ever since my early childhood, the digital world has fascinated me. I’ve always wanted to create something entirely from scratch, free from the constraints of existing materials or raw resources. The pure act of creation drew me in and in the digital realm, I discovered a canvas for my creative expression, one where I could unleash my imagination with total freedom. This domain also demanded a precision and rigour that resonated with my training in classical music. It felt like an extension of my very essence – an ever-evolving, perpetually in-flux art form. This endless cycle of transformation and innovation is challenging but deeply stimulating.

Could you tell us about the extent to which science fiction themes influence your work?

Reflecting on it, sci-fi has influenced my work from the very beginning, even if I wasn’t consciously aware of it – it developed as a spontaneous inclination. Many of the tools, topics and aesthetics of my works evoke a sci-fi aura, often possessing a hyper-realistic quality. The greatness of sci-fi lies in its ability to inspire visions of alternative realities, which is the core of my work. I was completely entranced by the incredible worlds Jorge Luis Borges created in his writings. Compared to other genres, sci-fi offers a vivid sense of exploration, of venturing beyond the boundaries of the known.

The concept of collaborating with you as the Creative Director for our exhibition emerged from our conversations. Right from the beginning, you had clear visions about the design elements that would define the new exhibition in the Schaudepot. Could you share with us the process and considerations that guided your selection of specific design elements?

The Argentine fantasy writer Jorge Luis Borges is the genius who introduced me to this world, and I wanted to pay homage to his work. One of the recurring themes that has always fascinated me is his use of mirrors as portals to alternate realities. The idea of accessing realms beyond our own or even understanding that other realms can exist was captivating. This is why I made mirrors focal points of the exhibition, using them to symbolically reflect, evoke and entangle different spaces of time. This aligns closely with the focus of my work, which revolves around proposing experiences that differ from what we might be used to but remain human and valid. I enjoy works that seem to ride their own timeline, and since this is a key theme of sci-fi, I wanted to replicate it in my exhibition design.

The Hortensia Chair, one of your most famous design pieces, is also featured in our exhibition. Could you share what inspired you to transition this design from its original digital conception to a physical form? What was the most significant challenge you faced in this process?

Hortensia was the first time I realised it was possible and beneficial to create digital demand before a physical offering. I made it tangible because my audience asked for it – when I posted the artwork on my Instagram, I received messages ordering Hortensia as if it were a physical object, which I had never considered before. Initially, I designed the digital version of Hortensia purely as an expression of creativity, without any thought of its actual feasibility. Producing it tangibly introduced numerous challenges, like the hundreds of individual petals and maintaining its weightless, floaty appearance despite its physical weight, and no one thought it was doable. But it was, and seeing it come to life taught me to keep creating without preconditions of feasibility in mind.

What are the advantages of designing in the digital space? What unique opportunities does it present that might not be available in traditional design spaces?

Traditional design spaces and digital spaces each have unique properties, making them difficult to compare directly. Which is also why I’ve never seen them as opposites or alternatives, but rather as complementary. From a practitioner’s viewpoint, I’ve found that the digital space consistently sparks new ideas for modes of creation that aren’t even contemplated in the tangible realm, as was the case for Hortensia. The digital world can also teach us much about the physical world by unveiling new shapes, textures and possibilities that seem daunting to create as real-life objects but are actually doable.

Andrés, could you tell us a bit about your future projects?

We are currently developing many fascinating projects at my studio in Barcelona, with more to be unveiled soon.

«Science Fiction Design. From Space Age to Metaverse» on view until 11 May 2025 at the Vitra Schaudepot.